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SMS Marketing 101: A Comprehensive Guide for Businesses

ByCory Miller

If you’re a small business owner or entrepreneur, SMS marketing is a way to grow your customer base and drive engagement. 

SMS marketing is the practice of sending marketing materials via text message. You can use text messages for promotions, reminders, time-sensitive updates, personalized discounts, and even delivery updates. 

SMS marketing is incredibly inexpensive and has phenomenal response rates. You don’t want to miss out on this promotion, so consider this SMS Marketing 101 and let’s get to work growing your brand voice. 

What is SMS Marketing?

SMS marketing uses short messaging service (SMS) to send messages to customers and create relationships with them. Customers opt into SMS campaigns and often perceive messages sent through SMS to be more important than those sent through other channels, meaning they pay more attention to them. 

Why You Need to Implement SMS Campaigns 

Most people (75%) say they want to get text messages from brands they want to buy from. If used to its full potential, SMS marketing can be a valuable addition to your marketing efforts, often at a low cost and with minimal time investment. And that’s not all. There are other benefits to SMS campaigns too.

Customer Personalization

Calling customers by name, referencing abandoned carts or previous orders, and offering special deals based on content preferences are fantastic ways to personalize content to engage your customer better. Customers respond better to content they feel is personalized to them, so feel free to get creative here. You can also use push notifications and text messages to reach out to customers who have stopped opening marketing emails. 

High Open Rates

SMS marketing has a 98% open rate, while email marketing only has an open rate of 22%. Although SMS marketing has a higher open rate, engagement will drop off if customers start to feel like they’re getting messages from you too much or the information isn’t valuable. Avoid this by only using SMS marketing to send high-quality information and offers. 

Immediate Results

Almost everyone has a cell phone, and it’s with them all the time. In fact, 95% of text messages are read in the first 3 minutes, making SMS marketing the best avenue for time-sensitive offers, updates, and shipping notifications.

Cost-Effective

SMS marketing is incredibly cost-effective compared to other marketing channels. It costs an average cost per text of 7 cents. Not only that, it has one of the best response rates, so you’re getting the most for your money when using it. 

Time-Saving

Offering customer service solutions through SMS can save you and your consumer time. They can look at it and respond immediately. They also can get a quick response from you about any concerns they may have.

Impactful Benefits of SMS Marketing 

Consumers are more likely to read and respond to a text message than they are an email. This behavior gives you an incredible opportunity to engage more with your audience. SMS marketing can also help you: 

  • Increase Reach. SMS marketing is a great way to grow your customer base and increase your brand’s reach. There are plenty of great ways to get customers to subscribe to your text messages. Some companies even offer discounts or VIP-exclusive offers to those who subscribe.
  • Improve Engagement. Opting for interactive features in your text messaging can help drive engagement with your customer base. It can also help provide insights into their preferences, helping you to give them better recommendations moving forward. 
  • Track Performance. SMS marketing can help you track the performance of marketing campaigns. You can see the analytics of who opened, clicked a link, or otherwise responded to your message.
  • Improve Customer Retention. Keeping customers in the loop with order updates, back-in-stock notifications, and promotions will keep them returning for more. 

Challenges of SMS marketing

SMS marketing offers an array of benefits if you choose to use it, but there’s no such thing as a perfect tool. SMS marketing has some challenges you should consider when deciding if it’s the right tool for your business.

SMS marketing challenges include:

  • Character LImits. Most SMS messages have a 160-character limit. That means your copy has to be short, concise, and really pack a punch to grab the receiver’s attention. 
  • Opt-in/Opt-out Regulations. Current regulations require that all companies receive verifiable consent from consumers before sending them SMS texts for marketing. Some companies do a double SMS opt-in to verify that people on their messaging list genuinely want to be there. The first opt-in happens when they ask for your phone number, and the second occurs when they ask you to reply to their first text and confirm you want to receive more messaging. This strategy helps you verify that subscribers are truly interested in your messages and won’t report you for spam. 
  • Spam Filters. Many phone carriers practice carrier filtering, blocking text messages that they deem to be spam or inappropriate. It’s possible to avoid being filtered if you write text messages that don’t look suspicious and follow SMS best practices. It’s also helpful to get explicit consent to text their contents, avoid suspicious words and characters, use links wisely, and personalize messages to keep them out of spam. 

SMS Marketing 101: Getting Started 

Because SMS marketing is so inexpensive and straightforward, it’s an avenue you can get started immediately. Here’s everything you need to know before you do.

Choose the Right Software

As you search for the right SMS marketing software for your business, consider your budget and desired features. Many companies offer a free trial or basic plan, allowing you to try out several options before deciding on one. 

Develop SMS Goals

What do you want from SMS marketing? Be sure to set measurable goals so you can tell if you’re getting the results you want or if you need to change your approach.

Identify Your Target Audience

Identifying your target audience allows you to focus and refine your materials and drive better engagement. During this process, it’s important to consider demographics, psychographics (preferences, attitudes, or goals), geography, and buying behavior. 

Create SMS Content

When writing SMS content, there are a few best practices to follow. These tips include avoiding text speak, keeping it simple and to the point, using attention-grabbing language, and being mindful of timing. As with any other marketing channel, checking, testing, modifying, and repeating are important. This will help you optimize the impact of your SMS marketing efforts. 

Create Opt-in Methods

Fines for texting customers who didn’t explicitly opt-in to receiving communication from you can be as high as $18,000, so creating clear opt-in methods is vital. Many marketers will do this from a pop-up on their website or as part of an email campaign. Many companies also request a second opt-in confirmation when sending out their first text, although this step isn’t required. 

Schedule Messages

Scheduling your messages will help ensure your customers see them when they have time to act. Sending texts early in the morning, late at night, or at meal times is bad practice. When deciding when to schedule messages, it’s essential to consider when your target audience will most likely be on their phones. 

Track and Analyze Results

Engaging in SMS marketing is an ongoing process, so it’s important to constantly be tracking and analyzing results. This tracking allows you to adjust as needed and always distribute your best content. 

Making Your SMS Campaigns Effective

As with any other marketing channel, you want to know you’re getting the best return on investment possible. 

Make your SMS campaign effective by:

  • Choosing the Right Timing. Consider when your target audience is most likely to be on their phone and when they’re most likely to complete your call to action. 
  • Write Engaging Messages. Text messages are limited to 160 characters, and it’s considered best practice to only send one. So, your messages need to be concise, engaging, and to the point. 
  • Asking for Specific Actions. Your text should clearly tell your customer what you want them to do next. These actions may include checking out new offers, reviewing a cart they’d previously abandoned, subscribing to email lists, and more. 
  • Include Good Links. Before you send out any text campaign, double-check all links you include. A bad link can hurt your brand image or even make your content look like spam, losing subscribers in the process. 

Why SMS is Future Proof

You don’t have to worry about wasting time by adding text message campaigns to your marketing strategies. SMS marketing isn’t going anywhere. It’s expected to grow more than 20% by 2025, making it one of the fastest-growing marketing channels. This growth is because of:

  • Popularity. Spam messages make up a small number of texts received. As a result, individuals consider SMS marketing to be more trustworthy and important. 
  • Reach. Almost seven billion people own smartphones, making SMS marketing one of the best options for connecting with your audience, wherever they may be on the globe. 
  • Low Cost and Accessibility. SMS marketing is one of the most accessible marketing channels available to small business owners. Beyond being inexpensive, SMS marketing has an incredible ROI as well. 
  • Reliability and Flexibility. Text messages get opened and opened fast. Also, the ability to include links in your text messages and offer interactive features makes SMS marketing flexible.

Let MYMA Build Your SMS Marketing Strategy

SMS marketing is one of the fastest growing marketing channels available and can help you drive engagement with your target audience. My Marketing Assistant can help you get started in SMS marketing by taking one marketing task off your plate per day, thus freeing up your time to pursue this burgeoning marketing channel. Contact us today so we can get to work!